Some thoughts….
 
             It is a tradition in the month of May for us to kick off the diocesan annual appeal. This appeal funds much of the good work that our church does throughout the state. Hospital and campus ministry, food for the hungry, outreach to the elderly and a host of other ministries are possible because of our generosity to this annual appeal. I know in the past that both St. Matthew and St. Therese parishes have been successful in reaching the goals set for us by the diocese. Last year St. Matthew exceeded our goal and St. Therese just missed our goal. The interesting thing about the appeal is that most givers are my age or older. This is not a hopeful sign for the future of ministry in our diocese. This year along with making our dollar goal, I am hoping that we will increase our participation in the appeal. I am hoping that young people will begin to take on their share in the missionary work that is going on every day in our diocese. Just as the generations who have gone before us have, through their generosity of time talent and treasure, provided for us the opportunity and the place to pray and worship, so must each of us do the same for future generations…I will be speaking more about this soon.
 
Both of our parishes are about to begin some significant updates. At St. Matthew we will begin a capital campaign to replace our furnace and to restore the integrity of our building. At St. Therese we will soon be announcing a plan that includes reducing the number of buildings we need to care for and the building of a new parish center that will include a hall, office, and classrooms. The goal of both projects is to ensure that both of our parishes are around and flourishing for years to come. Along with planning for a place for us to worship I have also recently hired a new Director of Parish Mission. Mrs. Jessica Rice will come on board in July, to help us to revivify our parishes. It will be her task to restart,  restore, and renew parish programs. Jess will bring her enthusiasm to our parishes and will help us to continue to plan for a future of spreading the Gospel in our communities.
 
I will be away most of next week for the annual clergy gathering in Bar Harbor. This means two things, it will rain all next week, and more importantly, there will be no one to celebrate daily Mass in my absence. I will also be heading out for ten days of vacation the following week and again there will be no one to celebrate daily Masses. I have arranged coverage for weekend Masses and for Ascension Thursday, which is a holy day of obligation. During my time away, it may also be difficult to find someone to celebrate funerals in our parishes. The staff will do their best to accommodate these requests should they come in but there is no guarantee. I tell you all this because, as I mentioned when we
announced Fr. Alex’s departure, our parishes need to be intentional and deliberate in fostering vocations to the priesthood. We need to be sending our sons, our grandsons, our nephews, and our neighbors to seminary, with our support so that the Eucharist will be available to future generations in our
communities.
 
Lastly, I have been overwhelmed at the generous response to our new Mass schedule. As I mentioned at some of the Masses, it is a joy to celebrate Mass in churches that are filled with faithful people who sing and respond enthusiastically to our prayer. I would remind each of us  that COVID is still a thing, and the new variants are more contagious than those of the past. Please make sure you take all necessary precautions, if sick stay home, wash/sanitize hands often, and wear a mask when in public. It’s what we do to take good care of one another as we pray and worship as one family.
 
 
~Fr. Bill